Management of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) Services by Community Pharmacists in Osun State Nigeria

Background: Point-of-care testing (POCT) provides important opportunity for community pharmacists to participate in oriented primary patient care. Effective management of these services is required to deliver their currently- underexploited benefits. Objectives: Assessed attitudes and practice, examined management functions deployed and identified factors affecting provision of POCTs by community pharmacists. Methods: A questionnaire-guided cross-sectional survey of 146 randomly-selected community pharmacists was conducted in Osun State Southwestern Nigeria. Study variables were measured on 5-point Likert scales with weighted averages, median scores and ranks used to present item performances. Interquartile ranges were computed to categorize practice scores. Chi square statistic was used to examine association of variables. ANOVA and 2-sample t-test were used to compare means. Results: A response rate of 94.5% was achieved. Respondents had a positive attitude (MWA 3.75) towards provision of POCTs as core component of their practice (MWA 4.58) with potential to contribute significantly to profitability (MWA 4.31). Respondents’ median practice score was 3.01(moderate practice) with blood pressure screening (4.77), weight measurement (4.45), and blood glucose screening (4.18) as leading POCTs, while cervical cancer screening (1.09) was least practiced. Management of POCTs was fair (MWA 3.33) with organisation of work as pre-eminent domain (MWA 3.66). Management practices were significantly associated with almost all demographic variables (p< .05). Positive public perception of pharmacists’ roles (MWA 4.31) and their improving clinical skills (MWA 4.01) were the leading enablers while the lack of enabling policy framework (MWA 3.80) and poor health information backbone (MWA 3.78) were major challenges to routine adoption of POCTs by respondents. Conclusion: The community pharmacists had positive attitude and moderate practice of POCTs. Management of these services was fair. Improving public perception of pharmacists should be exploited while enabling legal and health information systems should be provided to drive routine adoption of POCTs.